


The Whimsy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Before Meeting Haruhi

by whimsycreator



Category: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Genre: AU, Crack, Fantasy AU, Flashback, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Kidcore, Middle School, School Life, Spinoff, Westernized AU, cartoon au, cartoon fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-02 00:56:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21152933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whimsycreator/pseuds/whimsycreator
Summary: This is a spin-off work of The Whimsy of Haruhi Suzumiya (which currently hasn’t been written yet.)The Whimsy of Haruhi Suzumiya, or Suzumiya Haruhi no Kimagure (涼宮ハルヒの気まぐれ), is a cartoon fantasy Haruhi AU that takes place in my original universe Whimsica, as featured in my story Whimsica Saga.The world of Whimsica is a magical and colorful fantasy world of adventure, with a heavy sprinkle of humor and a little bit of unexpected danger. It’s heavily inspired by the surreal dreams I sometimes have, combined with fantasy worlds from books and cartoons.Haruhi is an eccentric high school girl from Earth with erratic magic that she doesn’t know about. (Erratic magic is very strange and powerful magic that is very unstable. It’s also very hard to control. Very strong erratic magic could potentially destroy a world if it gets out of hand…) Haruhi has always thought daily life on Earth was boring, and wanted to meet people with supernatural abilities. Little did she know, she would end up in the fantastic world of Whimsica. And she’d end up being the most supernatural one of all…





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I got into the Haruhi Suzumiya series again. Now I’m suddnely writing a Whimsica AU for it. I’m also slowly working on a Vocaloid Whimsica AU, and a crossover that combines all (or a lot) of my fandoms into one story that takes place in Whimsica. Random crossovers rule. Cringe culture is dead.
> 
> This story will be quite corny. Just a warning. It will be high-fructose corn syrup levels of corny and saccharine. But I really love corny kids' shows and books. I'm using Haruhi characters just 'cause I wanna.
> 
> So, this spinoff will feature Kyon, Yuki Nagato, Itsuki Koizumi, and Mikuru Asahina (among others) before Haruhi Suzumiya ends up in the magical world and rolls right into their life.
> 
> Here are some notes about the AU in general (I love spoiling my own stories by the way):
> 
> Haruhi is an eccentric high school girl from Earth with erratic magic that she doesn’t know about. (Erratic magic is very strange and powerful magic that is very unstable. It’s also very hard to control. Very strong erratic magic could potentially destroy a world if it gets out of hand…) Haruhi has always thought daily life on earth was boring, and wanted to meet people with supernatural abilities. Little did she know, she would. And she’d end up being the most supernatural one of all…
> 
> So somehow Haruhi ends up in Whimsica. Somehow. There will be a twist…
> 
> Kyon, despite being Whimsican, is exceedingly normal. He has not yet fulfilled himself (AKA discovered a magical transformation due to overcoming something), nor doesn’t he seem to show any sort of powers at all. He is also very snarky and pessimistic.
> 
> Kyon met and befriended Itsuki and Yuki in a magical middle school. During that time, Kyon and Yuki were in magical rap class. Raps were like incantations or spells. However, Kyon showed no sign of having any sort of power.
> 
> Kyon thought both his new friends were both very odd. Yuki was exceedingly quiet, mysterious, and never looked up from whatever book she was reading. Itsuki seemed to be perpetually smiling to the point of being overbearing. His head was filled with sunshine and rainbows. During that time, Kyon had a rather embarrassing crush on Mikuru. Yuki and Itsuki always had a plan to get Kyon confess to Mikuru. However, something always went wrong.
> 
> Eventually, Kyon does become Mikuru’s friend, and Mikuru becomes a member of Kyon’s group. However, Mikuru still doesn’t know Kyon’s feelings. Kyon plans to tell her one day… but he keeps making excuses to put it off to avoid embarrassment. (In reality, his crush on Mikuru is actually waning. He doesn’t realize it though…)
> 
> Itsuki actually has a crush on Kyon and sometimes flirts with him. However, Kyon is oblivious to it. Kyon has a crush on Mikuru, and Mikuru has a crush on Itsuki!
> 
> Mikuru is a time traveler from a dark dystopian future where Monochrome (the dystopian planet of evil and monotony) prevailed. She traveled back in time to change the future…
> 
> Oh, and Yuki is an alien from a planet called Nagatopia. Yuki uses the surname Nagato on Whimsica because Nagatopians don’t have surnames. Also Nagatopia is kind of a dystopia because emotions are supposed to be repressed. Yuki’s stoic demeanor is due to her upbringing. The technology on Nagatopia is highly advanced and futuristic, however. The planet has an oblong shape, referencing how “nagai” (adjective form of “naga”) means “long” in Japanese.
> 
> Oh yeah. Also, Itsuki is an ESPer. He never opens his eyes. When he does, can see many invisible forces and it becomes overwhelming for him. He keeps them closed, as he can still see without them with his abilities. He opens his eyes when using his powers.
> 
> In high school, Kyon’s group of weird Whimsican friends meet Haruhi. Despite being from Earth, Haruhi’s weirder than all of them, and she has extraordinary powers to boot.
> 
> Mikuru was ten years old and in 5th grade when she traveled back in time with her parents into the story's present day. She kept her identity as a time-traveler a secret, only telling Tsuruya, her first friend from the past.
> 
> Yuki and Ryouko knew each other since 5th grade, right after a ten-year-old Yuki moved from Nagatopia to Whimsica on her own. Even though Yuki repressed her emotions, Ryouko saw beyond that and knew Yuki was kind.

Once upon a time there was a guy named [classified information]. However, everyone just called him Kyon. He just wanted to have a normal life, free of any fantastic nuisances. but unfortunately, he lived in the magical world of Whimsica.

But one day, after reading an inspirational book, Kyon decided he wanted to become a professional rap battler and to defeat the rap master one day.

Therefore, Kyon made sure to attend a middle school that offered a rapping course.

Little did he know, the life of a rap battler was a very, very strange one. 

Also, did I ever mention that in Whimsica, rap battlers had magical powers and their raps were like spells? But not Kyon.

Kyon didn’t seem to have any sort of power whatsoever. He was as normal as could be. Many kids his age had unlocked a bit of their own magic already. Some of his peers had already even fulfilled themselves.

To fulfill oneself means to triumph over an important obstacle or to have a similar meaningful moment. They then are able to unlock their magical transformation, complete with a special outfit and weapon. A person’s powers can grow more than tenfold in the state when they are transformed.

On Whimsica, the average age of fulfillment is sixteen years old. Kyon was only eleven and a half, so he was convinced in the back of his head that he had plenty of time.

To make up for his lack of any sort of magic powers, Kyon studied extra hard to get accepted into Bouken Academy, a prestigious academy for 6th graders and up. It was the only school around to offer a rap class. And if you think that’s weird, there was also a competitive eating class, a yodeling class, and a class all about creating big explosions. However, the explosions sometimes woke up the students who were having nap class.

Kyon’s new school was very extraordinary. It has seventy-five floors, a great number of rooms, and each one had a different genre and/or setting. Yes, that’s right, the rooms had genres. There was a medieval room, a steampunk room, a sci-fi room, a rainbow-cupcake-land room, a room that didn’t exist, and even a room where everything was backwards and students sat on the ceiling in order to learn.

All sorts of humanoids and creatures went to Bouken Academy.

Among all of them, Kyon was the most normal one of them all. He just didn’t fit in. Everyone thought he was weird, but he just thought they weren’t normal enough.

Even though Bouken Academy’s student body included vampires, talking cats, reptile people, fairies, capybaras, robots, teddy bunnies, flying pigs and even talking potatoes, Kyon personally thought that the strangest specimen in the entire school was the plain-looking human girl who sat next to him. Her name was Yuki Nagato.

Yuki Nagato was so quiet, that her sound level was in the negatives. The expression on her face was so blunt and expressionless, it could barely be called an “expression” at all. She also seemed to have no emotions. She could make a chair look like an emotional wreck just by standing next to it. Yuki Nagato could spend an entire day without looking up from her book, provided it was thick enough. Rumor has it that she read the entire “History and In-Depth Analysis of Physics and Intergalactic Astronomy: Extensive Edition” in one sitting without looking up even once. Most kids fell asleep after only reading the title alone. The book was much too thick to fit through any door, even vertically. So Yuki Nagato sat outside in the rain with a single giant umbrella shielding her and the immense, towering paperback behemoth. She apparently also once sat down and read the entire Terms and Conditions for when she installed her dictionary. And then she read the entire dictionary. 

Kyon could remember how he first met Yuki. The memory also incidentally took place on the day Kyon’s life took a turn for the wacky.

Only one other friend from Kyon’s old elementary school was attending Bouken Academy. His name was Kunikida. The rest of Kyon’s elementary friends all went to a different middle school.

Kyon hoped that he would have Kunikida in at least some of his classes. However, since the school was such an enormous place, the two ended up having zero class periods in common.

Kyon felt defeated. This meant that he was going to have to make new friends if he wanted to survive. So the next day, in rap class, Kyon pushed himself to be sociable and talk to people. Maybe he’d start with the quiet-looking girl next to him who he literally didn’t even notice the day before. She was quietly reading a very intimidating-looking novel. She seemed very engrossed in it.

“Um... Hey! Whatcha reading?” Kyon forced a smile and said awkwardly.

The girl peeked up from the thick novel and eyed Kyon with a serious expression. She didn’t speak. Instead she lifted the book up to show Kyon the the cover. The book was titled “A Cosmic Odyssey.” Kyon could tell there was gonna be no pictures in it. There wasn’t even as much as a illustration on the cover. It looked like a very daunting read, especially for an eleven-year-old. The girl’s name was also written in sharpie on the bottom corner of the book. Yuki Nagato.

“Oh. I’ve never read that before. Is it any good?” Kyon replied, trying to hide discomfort. Was this conversation even going to go anywhere?

“Fascinating.” Yuki spoke in a quiet, flat voice and went right back to reading. Despite her answer, she didn’t seem very enthusiastic. However, she seemed very focused while she was reading the book.

“Uh, yeah.” Kyon said. “Any good parts?”

“All of it.” Yuki quickly turned the page of her book. Although quiet, the sound of the rustling paper was louder than her voice.

“Oh. That’s great. You sure like books, huh?” Kyon answered back with an awkward chuckle.

“Relatively.” She answered.

“Oh. Uh... yeah. Enjoy your book then!” Kyon smiled back at Yuki and dismissed the conversation.

There was silence from both of them.

“Yeah...” Kyon thought. “This girl totally lives in her own boring little world.”

From then on, Kyon couldn’t help but wonder why Yuki was so aloof. He also wondered why Yuki was even in rap class with him anyway. She was so quiet. She probably didn’t sign up for it, and was only thrown in there because there was extra space in Kyon’s class.

One day Kyon was walking down the hallway to synchronized swimming class, wondering what went on in Yuki’s head. He decided to make an improvised rap about her. No hurt in earning extra credit, right?

That Yuki, she’s so spooky,  
She only looks at books.  
Tell it to me, she’s so gloomy,  
With her distant outlook.  
How many pages does she read every day?  
She probably knows more words than I could ever say.  
But she never talks, so how could I know?  
That’s the end of this rap, goodbye and YOLO!

“Yo, Kyon! You rap like a potato!”

The person who just spoke right then was Taniguchi, the most annoying kid in the whole school. He was also in Kyon’s rap class, and loved to annoy Kyon. Especially by improvising raps about him. 

Kyon can’t rap, he makes me want to nap.  
One day I’m gonna snap, and steal his favorite cap!

Taniguchi playfully snatched off Kyon’s favorite dinosaur hat and started running down the hallway.

“Hey! Don’t you dare run away with my dino cap!” Kyon yelled.

Kyon followed Taniguchi down the stairs. However, he didn’t even take two steps before he placed his foot wrong and began tumbling down the staircase!

Kyon thought it would be the end... until he felt a pair of arms catch him.

“Hey.” Said the mysterious person who caught Kyon in mid-air. “My name is Itsuki Koizumi. What’s yours?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I updated chapter one too. I had rushed it before, after all. Be sure to go back and look at it, I guess.

“Hey.” Said the mysterious person who caught Kyon in mid-air. “My name is Itsuki Koizumi. What’s yours?”

“...You already said that in the last chapter.” Kyon said.

“I know.” Itsuki chuckled. “Just giving the audience a little recap.”

“What audience?” Kyon asked. Itsuki set him back down on the floor and stepped forward,

“Why, can’t you see?” Said Itsuki, spreading out his arms. “We’re on stage! This hallway is broadway-themed!”

Indeed, there was a spotlight shining on both the boys.

“Wait. How you can see all that when your eyes are closed?” Kyon asked the mysterious boy.

Indeed, Itsuki’s eyes were closed shut, almost as if he were sleepwalking...

“Because, I’m an esper.” Itsuki said.

“A what?” Kyon asked.

Suddenly, Itsuki broke out into a jazz number and moved as if he were on broadway. The spotlight followed him as he danced around.

What could an esper possibly be?  
Is that the question who’s answer you seek?

Extrasensory powers, telepathy!  
There are many kinds of forces an esper can see.

It turns out, each esper is different from each other.  
One might see sound waves, but perhaps not their brother.

Me? I can sense auras of people and things.  
The energy they give off comes out in rings.

That is precisely how I can see with my eyes closed.  
If my eyes were to open, my head would explode!

With Itsuki’s last line, the jazz number concluded. Everyone around began to cheer.

...

“Wait, your head would explode?” Kyon asked, concerned. “For real?”

“Haha, not really.” Itsuki smiled. “But it would feel that way for me. I’d see way too many things at once.”

“Ah, I see.” Kyon said. So those were Itsuki’s powers. He wondered if Itsuki had fulfilled himself yet.

Suddenly, Kyon remembered why he was running down the stairs in the first place. That annoying Taniguchi took his favorite cap! But more importantly for now, he was also running late for class!

“Gah! I have no time for this...” Kyon grumbled. “I have to go! Um, thanks for rescuing me!”

Kyon took off running the rest of the way down the hall.

“Wait, then I’ll go with you!” Itsuki said, following him. “Maybe we’re going to the same place. Let’s see... I have synchronized swimming class next.”

“Hey, that’s the exact same class I have!” Kyon exclaimed.

“For real?” Itsuki said, smiling. “I look forward to having class with you then!”

Itsuki seemed to have taken a liking to Kyon. He was very polite... He was also a little weird. Or maybe Kyon was just too normal. Either way, it seemed Kyon had finally succeeded in making a new friend at Bouken Academy.

Synchronized swimming class was held only once every week. This would be the first session for Kyon and Itsuki.

At one point, the hallway went from broadway-themed, to literally being a cave. The dark cave was lit up with lights strung on the walls. The cave descended and led to one of the underground basement floors, where there was a rainwater pool. The class was to have their session in that pool.

There were only 10 students in this class. Aside from Kyon and Itsuki, there were two human girls, a humanoid boy with dog ears, a talking hippo boy, a waterproof cyborg girl, a mermaid girl, a talking bear girl, and an anthropomorphic turtle boy.

Kyon and Itsuki arrived last, just before the loud class bell blared through the entire building. 

Kyon didn’t sign up for synchronized swimming class. He felt it was gonna be very embarrassing. He didn’t like to dance gracefully. Doing it in the water would be even worse. Kyon had a feeling that Itsuki was one of the students who actually signed up for the class. He seemed like the kind of person who’d enjoy swimming as an art form.

Things got even worse when the temperature of the pool water was ice-cold.

The teacher of the class was Ms. Adagio. She was an anthropomorphic flamingo who moved very gracefully. She said that synchronized swimming was like an underwater mixture of ballet, and slow-motion breakdancing.

The teacher instructed the class to do stretches in the water to get ready. Nobody felt like socializing except for the two human girls in the class. The cave interior was very echoey, so Kyon heard their conversation.

“This is fun, isn’t it, Mikuru?” The taller girl said to her shorter friend.

“I’m not sure I can do it, Tsuruya.” The other girl answered. “I’m really not good at anything.”

“Don’t say that.” Tsuruya said.

When they were finished stretching, everyone was to introduce themselves by doing a dance that they feel symbolizes who they are.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Kyon thought. He began to make a plan. Maybe he’d fake a stomachache and go to the nurse’s office before his turn came up...

“Alright, Mikuru Asahina will go up first.” Ms. Adagio said.

Mikuru Asahina was a short and somewhat stout girl who appeared quite shy. She shuffled up to the center of the pool, and fell down twice. She seemed to be very clumsy.

“She has a nice face...” Kyon denied having thought. She also felt kinda sorry for her, having to go up first like that.

“I’m Mikuru Asahina, and um...” She said.

“Don’t say it with words!” Ms. Adagio said. “Say it with your dancing!”

“Um... okay.”

Mikuru lifted a leg and began to spin around slowly. She fell again.

“I can’t do it!” Mikuru wailed.

“Don’t give up!” Came the shout of her friend Tsuruya.

Kyon, who also felt sorry for Mikuru, gave her a sympathetic smile and discreet thumbs-up.

With this new reassurance, Mikuru tried again. This time she closed her eyes... she whispered “I can do it.” Suddenly, she had transformed from a clumsy and shy girl to a graceful ballerina. Kyon watched in admiration as Mikuru gracefully maneuvered herself through the water. She appeared to be having fun. She looked to free. Kyon felt himself silently root her on.

When she was done, everyone clapped, and Mikuru started to cry.

Tsuruya ran up and hugged her.

“I was so scared...” Mikuru sniffled. The two walked back to the front of the pool together as Mikuru calmed down.

“Thank you.” Mikuru said to Kyon as she passed by him.

“Ah... it was... n-nothing, really.” Kyon replied. That was weird. Why was he stammering all of a sudden?

Kyon felt his heart inside his chest, pounding in a way it had never quite pounded before. What the heck was this overwhelming, nauseating feeling?

“Um... Ms. Adagio?” Kyon raised his hand. “My chest feels kinda funny. Can I go to the nurse’s office?”

“Alright.” The teacher flamingo said. “But make sure to show up next class.”

At least Kyon had an excuse to get out of the introduction dance for now. But what was that weird feeling he had in his chest, and why did it suddenly go away after a few minutes? Kyon even theorized that maybe it was a sign of his powers finally awakening. It did certainly feel mysterious. Hm... Maybe Itsuki knew something about it. 

———

Meanwhile...

“Wow Yuki, you sure know a lot about astrophysics.” Kunikida said.

Kyon’s old friend Kunikida was now in physics class, sitting in the same row as Yuki Nagato, on the opposite end of the class. Kunikida was a hardworking student, but physics happened to be a real challenge for him.

“I do have a question though.” Kunikida said to Yuki, showing her his textbook. “About this problem right here. How exactly do you calculate the ratio of the rotational kinetic energy of the this dense cream-filled donut to that of the hollow, torus-shaped donut, given they’re both rolling down the same 45-degree incline, yet on two separate celestial bodies with wildly-differing specific gravity ratios?”

“Here.”

Without showing the least bit of expression, Yuki took out a pen and paper, and wrote down an elaborate set of formulas based on the question Kunikida presented to her. She then began to solve them, explaining her steps, guiding him through the problem.

“Gee, thanks a lot for the help!” Kunikida said once he understood the solution. “Anyway, sorry to bother you.”

“It’s fine.” Yuki said.

Kunikida began to make his way back to his seat.

“Wow, as expected from the top student in the class!” Ryouko said to Yuki once Kunikida was back in his seat. Ryouko attended the same elementary school as Yuki. As the top two students in their classes, they ended up becoming acquaintances.

Yuki responded by turning a page in her book. She didn’t seem to respond well to compliments.

“Oh, Yuki, I almost forgot.” Ryouko said again, an anticipating smile growing on her face this time. “I have exciting news. My birthday is tomorrow, and I’ll be holding a party in the school’s party room! Anyone’s invited. I’m looking forward to it. Would you like to come as well?”

“A party?” Yuki responded. “I do not understand what you refer to.”

Ryouko’s eyes flew wide open. Yuki didn’t know what a party was? Oh yeah... Yuki was from another planet after all. Maybe her home planet didn’t have parties. But still, it was unthinkable! A planet without any partying? Or maybe they just called it something different?

And for those of you who are shocked that the big revelation that Yuki is from another planet was just _glossed over so casually_ like that? Hold on. We will get back to that later.

“Oh. You see...” Ryouko said. “A party is when many people gather in one place and celebrate. We play games, eat food, dance to music, and have lots of fun! It’ll be great. Please come. I think you’ll love it, Yuki.”

“...Unique.” Yuki responded. Ryouko knew enough about Yuki to know that she said that word when she came across something she felt unfamiliar with.

But Ryouko still felt she didn’t know _enough_ about Yuki. About what she felt inside her heart especially. Ryouko knew Yuki had a heart. She was helpful and caring after all. But she didn’t talk much, or have any other friends. She had to be feeling lonely sometimes, right?

Ryouko knew that Yuki was actually an alien from a distant planet, and that she came to Whimsica all by herself, leaving her parents behind. It wasn’t necessarily a secret, but word rarely got out, since Yuki was so quiet and secretive. She was never upfront about any of her emotions, nor did she talk about herself much. (To be fair, she didn’t really talk about _anything_ that much...)

Ryouko trusted Yuki. But she wanted Yuki to know that she could also trust her back.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Ryouko looked fondly at Yuki with a sad smile, and sighed. Yuki had her face in a book and didn’t notice.

Since class was over, the two wouldn’t be seeing each other for the rest of the day. Ryouko couldn’t help but worry about Yuki.

Ryouko and Yuki were acquaintances. But Ryouko wanted to become Yuki’s _friend_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See the end of the chapter for notes about Yuki’s home planet and her species.
> 
> So I admit I wrote this I a rush. I was just so excited adjakdjskdks.

As Kyon roamed around the enormous school building searching for the nurse’s office, he found that the path there was filled with all sorts of random obstacles such as mazes and moving platforms. Getting to the nurse’s office would take an adventure. The room was very well-hidden as well. It was as if whoever designed the school wanted to make life as difficult for the students as possible!

Eventually he just gave up. His case wasn’t urgent, and he was feeling better anyway. The weird fluttering in his chest had eased. Still, he got to skip class and the very embarrassing introduction, for now. Kyon was sure that he was going to be dancing in front of the class next week. Maybe he’d have a different plan to get out of it then.

Finally, the day at school was over. Kyon took the flying school bus back home. None of his friends rode his flying bus, but there was Taniguchi. He got annoying really quickly though.

“Hey Kyon. Kyon. Kyon.” Taniguchi sat in the seat behind Kyon and poked the back of his head.

“WHAT IS IT?” Kyon roared.

“I forgot to return this.” Taniguchi took out the dinosaur cap and placed it back on Kyon’s head with a cheeky grin.

“Gee, thanks.” Kyon said. He was being half-sarcastic. “You could’ve returned it earlier, you know?”

———

The next day, rap class was as typical as could be. Aside from the fact that the substitute teacher was a talking purple sloth, it started raining corn outside, and a gingerbread man burst through the wall wearing nothing but boxers and a top hat, it was just a completely normal session.

After rap class ended, the next class period was actually in fact, going to be Ryouko’s birthday party.

Only the 100 most popular kids in the school got to throw huge birthday parties that replaced entire class periods. Kyon was lingering somewhere along the bottom middle of the popularity ranking, along with Taniguchi.

Kyon decided he would go to the party. He had nothing else to do. The kids who chose not to go to the parties had to go to the school’s movie theater and watch a very boring educational film. Kyon thought the party had the potential to be much more fun, despite the fact he didn’t know this Ryouko person.

In the center of the school, there was one floor with no hallways. The entire space was one giant room, and that room would be where the popular kids’ parties took place.

“Hey! Kunikida!” Kyon greeted his old friend he hadn’t seen since elementary school. Kunikida was sitting at a table in the midst of arising commotion, eating a big slice of cake.

“Yo, Kyon!” Kunikida said back to him. “Nice to see you.”

“Kunikida, you don’t happen to know who Ryouko is, do you?” Kyon asked. “The girl throwing this party?”

“Ryouko? She’s in my physics class.” Kunikida answered. “She’s one of the top students in the class too. The other top student in the class is this really stoic girl who does nothing but read books, really. She doesn’t talk much either. What was her name? Hm...”

“Oh! Does her name happen to be Yuki Nagato?” Kyon asked.

“Oh yeah, that’s it!” Kunikida answered. “You know her too?”

“Yeah. She’s in my rap class.” Kyon said. “She’s... pretty strange, I’ll say that.”

Meanwhile, Ryouko was being crowned birthday queen by all her best friends.

After their session of karaoke and dancing, Ryouko suddenly noticed Yuki had arrived at the party. She walked in the room slowly, plunked herself in a chair, and began to continue the book she had been reading.

Ryouko was about to go up and greet Yuki, when...

“I have to ask you something, Ryouko.” One of her friends said. “Why do you hang around that emo girl Yuki anyway? Like, all she does is read. So boring. Her presence is totally ruining this party.”

“Yeah, Ryouko.” Another friend said. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

Before the birthday girl could respond, her friends were already dragging her to the other end of the room.

Ryouko sighed. She didn’t like how her friends were treating Yuki. But if she talked back to them, she could end up losing them as friends.

Ryouko didn’t want to have friends who bullied other people. So why couldn’t she tell them? Why was it so difficult?

Meanwhile, Yuki was waiting patiently for Ryouko to come and talk to her. She was reading her book to help pass the time, but it was really hard to concentrate with all the loud, booming noise of party music and a chattering, karaoke-singing crowd. 

Yuki wasn’t used to loud noise. Her home planet was incredibly quiet. It was technologically advanced, to the point where even the jet engines and rockets made very little noise. Music wasn’t really used as entertainment either, and was never played loud.

Yuki hated noise. But still, she waited, enduring the uncomfortable cacophony.

“Hey, isn’t it getting kinda hot in here?” Kyon asked Kunikida.

“Oh yeah. The air conditioner in this room had been broken for a while.” Kunikida replied.

Kyon decided to take off his jacket, as the heat was becoming uncomfortable.

But for Yuki Nagato, the heat grew to be unbearable in a very short time. Yet still, she waited patiently.

“YO! What’s up, Kyon?” Taniguchi suddenly appeared and began to pester his classmate.

“Oh no, not you again.” Kyon rolled his eyes.

“Hey, Kyon? What’s up with Yuki over there?” Taniguchi then said. “She looks like she’s about to puke or something. Well, it’s gonna suck being her. Because, if she does, everyone’s gonna be calling her Pukey Yuki for the rest of the year...”

Kyon turned his head over to look. Indeed, Yuki was looking pretty horrible. Her entire body was red, not just her face.

Kyon began to worry.

He jolted out of his seat and scrambled up to the shorter girl.

“Yuki? What’s wrong?” Kyon asked. “Are you sick?”

“I’m fine.” Yuki replied, showing very little expression in her voice. However, she was breathing heavily and was sweating profusely.

“No, you don’t look fine at all.” Kyon said. “Come on. I’ll take you to the nurse’s office.”

Yuki began to cough and hold her head. She looked to be in quite bad shape.

“There is no need.” Yuki said again once her cough subsided. Her voice was still monotone, yet weak-sounding. “I have been instructed by Ryouko to attend this party and to wait for her—“

“Oh, forget about Ryouko.” Kyon interrupted. “You’re sick. I’ll take you to the nurse.”

Kyon took Yuki’s hand and pulled her out of her seat. He made his way through the crowd frantically, with Yuki following behind on wobbly legs. Kyon found it strange that Yuki’s body temperature didn’t seem to be burning up, despite how much she was sweating. In fact, her hand was rather chilly.

Meanwhile, many thoughts were swimming in Yuki’s head. She never experienced anyone show such concern for her...

“Yuki.” Kyon spoke to her once they were in a vast, empty hallway alone. “Are you feeling alright? Don’t worry, we’ll get there.”

There was a bit of a pause as the two continued walking together. Suddenly, Yuki stopped walking for a bit and looked down.

“Actually, there is something I feel the need to tell you.” She spoke softly.

Kyon looked at Yuki attentively. Yuki lifted her face up and eyed Kyon with a blank gaze.

“I am not native to this planet, Whimsica, nor am I from Earth.” Yuki explained. “I am what would be classified as an alien.”

An alien?

For a few seconds, Kyon had to stop walking to process what Yuki had said to him. Yuki was... an alien? But she looked like a regular humanoid. However, Kyon soon concluded that looks didn’t always explain everything.

Bouken Academy had a colorful variety of all kinds of beings attending as students. But extraterrestrials or aliens were unheard of, aside from the odd Earthling who wound up in Whimsica by incredible means every now and again. Earthling beings were all already species that could be found on Whimsica, and weren’t classified as aliens.

A whole otherworldly species going to the school would be seen as a huge deal. Yet, there had been one right in front of Kyon the whole time...

“Wait. So... you’re not actually a human?” Kyon asked, bewildered.

Yuki shook her head.

“I am not.” She said. “I am a species known as Xoro. I come from a planet called Nagatopia. Though we greatly resemble humanoid life forms, us Xoros share no common ancestors with humans. We are ice-blooded organisms, defined by having a naturally cool body temperature and a requirement to maintain such a temperature. We are highly sensitive to heat, despite an increased resistance to cold.”

This is the longest Kyon had ever heard Yuki speak, and it all sounded like it came from a textbook. Kyon couldn’t have held such a monotone speaking voice for that long, even if he tried.

“Oh, gee...” Kyon muttered. “That must be why you’re sick! You must have overheated in there. Come on, I promise I’ll get to the nurse’s office.”

Yuki nodded her head in understanding and followed Kyon.

Yuki wasn’t good at socializing with people or holding a conversation. She was distant and standoffish, even for a Nagatopian. Nagatopia was technologically advanced, but the culture was very strict and severe. Yuki wasn’t used to Whimsica’s lively and extroverted customs. But Kyon was being so kind. Yuki had never felt such trust towards someone in a short time before.

The school was gigantic. It seemed to get bigger every day. Secret rooms and mysterious places were always being discovered inside the school. Kyon thought it was ridiculous. How was such a school possible? Who built it? There were rooms filled with water that never leaked or poured out, rooms where gravity worked backwards, and even rooms that mysteriously appeared, disappeared, or moved. The lunch lady cooked all her food using a volcano for crying out loud! And the cafeteria was on the twenty-first floor. How could a volcano even exist on the twenty-first floor of a building?

Kyon and Yuki went down two flights of stairs, crossed a bridge, slid down a slide that went to a chute that lead to the mysterious dark part of the school (where they couldn’t afford adequate lighting), went up 15 floors on a rather hidden elevator, and crossed over 10 disjointed floating platforms, only to end up in a hallway where it was raining watercolors. Sometimes it just did that in the watercolor arts department.

Kyon and Yuki walked down the hall, and got covered in colorful splotches.

“Unique...” Yuki said.

“You say that every time you encounter something strange!” Kyon mentioned. So far, Yuki had said “unique” 56 times during their little adventure.

At the end of the hallway, there was a dead end.

“Gosh darn it!” Kyon exploded with frustration. “We’re lost...”

Yuki was still coughing, hacking, and was now dripping with sweat. Kyon began to grow more anxious.

“I’m so sorry, Yuki.” Kyon said. “Please hang in there.”

Kyon pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to the short girl. It was all he felt he could do. Yuki wiped the sweat from her brow, and suddenly noticed a sign on the wall.

“PUSH”, it said in all capital letters.

Kyon and Yuki looked at the sign, looked at each other, and promptly tried pushing the wall together.

The wall collapsed, revealing a very hot cave filled with steam. Trickles of lava were dripping down from the walls.

Yuki breathed heavily in pain. The heat was making her dizzy and nauseous. Kyon began feeling very concerned for her.

“Let’s just run through this place really fast.” Kyon said.

“Understood.” Said Yuki, nodding.

The two took off running, when suddenly a giant boulder landed right in front of them. Kyon screamed really loud at the impact of the boulder, and even Yuki let out the quietist of surprised vocalizations.

The boulder suddenly grew arms, and legs, and a face... The enormous figure towered over both the smaller figures in the room. Another giant golem just like that one fell and began to corner the two. Monsters!

On Whimsica, monsters were erratic beings that didn’t have a soul. They moved as if they were alive, but had no conscience. They were basically objects, and usually caused tons of destruction. Therefore, it was always best to defeat them.

“Oh, no... no, heck no!” Kyon shouted. “We’re doomed! What are we doing to do!?”

“Stand back.” Yuki said, in an eerily calm tone. “I’ve got this.”

Kyon’s eyes and mouth both fell open. Yuki sounded so assured! Kyon might have had no powers, but Yuki must have had some sort of power to fight these towering rocky behemoths, right...? Or else...!

Yuki Nagato held out her right arm and began quickly uttering some sort of alien incantation, using alien phonetics that couldn’t be written using any letters in any language. Suddenly, both the rock monsters began distorting and pixelating, as if they were on a computer screen. Only, this was happening right in front of Kyon’s eyes.

“Yuki!” Kyon shouted.

“Not to worry.” Yuki replied. “I have manipulated the data of these soulless beings in order to weaken them.”

“Yuki, watch out!” Kyon cried. A giant hammering fist was about to hit the both of them. Yuki quickly reached out to touch Kyon’s hand, and teleported them both away a short, yet safe distance of a couple of feet.

“Whoa!” Kyon exclaimed. Yuki had powers that no other Whimsican seemed to have, like accurate teleportation. (Despite it only being short-distance.) So Yuki really was an alien! Not that Kyon needed any more proof before, but it finally felt one-hundred percent confirmed to him.

Yuki closed her eyes, lifted her left arm up this time, and riding up with it, a bunch of rocks from the ground began to levitate. She then used her psychic power and a movement of her arm to hurl the rocks at the golems at a breakneck speed.

Both the golems began to wobble back and forth, threatening to topple down. Eventually, they both lost balance and began falling right over Kyon and Yuki.

“Yuki, do something!” Kyon screamed.

Yuki calmly held out both her arms this time, and a circular defensive force field appeared, spanning around her and Kyon.

The golems toppled down right over both of them, hit the force field, and began to crumble into smaller pieces of rock. The rocks bounced off the force field and scattered all across the room.

When no more rocks were falling from above, Yuki made the force field disappear, right before she took two wobbly steps forward, and promptly fainted onto the ground.

“Yuki!” Kyon kneeled down to her. “YUKI!”

Yuki Nagato was breathing heavily. Her entire body was drenched in sweat, her face was an intense red, and she was unconscious.

“Hang in there, please...” Kyon whispered, before picking up the small girl and placing her on his back. Kyon was rather large for an eleven-year old, and Yuki was rather small. He managed to lift himself up with her on his back, and walk the rest of the distance out of the room.

Suddenly, there was a mysterious portal that said “This way to the nurse’s office.”

Kyon began to cheer in relief, and jumped right through the portal. The next thing he knew, he was at the front desk of the nurse’s office. He made it! He finally made it! Yuki was going to be alright...

“Excuse me, nurse!” Kyon called out to the pink-haired nurse at the front desk. “It’s... it’s a bit of an emergency. My friend... Yuki, she passed out from overheating and... well... she’s not exactly a human.... She’s an alien called a Xoro! She’s very sensitive to heat and needs to recover in a cold environment right away!”

“Oh dear.” The nurse said. “I’ve never treated a Xoro before. I’ve never even heard of them... But I’ll do whatever I can. Let me administer an ice pack and take her vitals.”

The nurse had her assistant, a pink kangaroo, get an ice pack from the freezer, as she lowered the temperature in the room to a chilly fifty degrees.

The nurse then took Yuki’s blood pressure, which was a bit high, from exerting herself. She listened to her heart, her breathing, and gave her a thorough examination.

“Good news, she appears to be fine.” The nurse said. “She’s just exhausted and has a bit of a cold. I’m sure she’ll be better in no time.”

“Thank goodness.” Kyon sighed. He decided to stay with Yuki for a few more minutes. Right as Kyon was about to leave, Yuki regained consciousness.

“Kyon...” She muttered. “This is the nurse’s office, correct?”

“Yuki, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Kyon said. “See, we made it!”

There was a bit of a pause as Yuki sat herself up in the bed.

“Haha, well I don’t think we could’ve made it if it wasn’t for those awesome powers you have.” Kyon said. “You totally saved me too! I have to thank you for that.”

“It was nothing.” Yuki responded.

“You should be more proud of yourself.” Kyon said.

“However, there is one problem.” Yuki spoke. “I live alone in an apartment far away from here. I do not have anybody available to transport me back home.”

The nurse happened to overhear the conversation.

“Oh, not to worry.” She said. “This year we just finished developing a magical bed that can transport any student back home to their own bed.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so earlier?” Kyon said.

Yuki climbed in the magical bed, and in a flash of colorful sparkles, she vanished back home to her own comfy bed.

“Feel better!” Kyon said as she left.

Once Yuki was home, she noticed she was still holding the handkerchief Kyon lended her.

“I’ll wash this and give it back one day.” She thought. Feeling comforted by the kindness Kyon had showed her, she drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well. This is turning into a mostly Kyon and Yuki story. But I promise the other characters will be back too...
> 
> Anyway, about those notes.
> 
> About Nagatopia (also known as Xoropolis)-  
The planet has an oblong shape, referencing the kanji pronounced “naga”, meaning long.  
Nagatopia is in a distant galaxy from Whimsica’s location in space. However, this location is closer to Whimsica than Whimsica is to Earth.  
Whimsica and Earth have the same average temperature. However, Nagatopia is colder than both these places by 45 degrees less on average.  
Nagatopia is very technologically advanced. The jet engines and rockets make almost no noise. This is why Yuki isn’t used to loud noise.  
Contemporary music and dance doesn’t exist on that planet. Music is mathematically and scientifically composed by machines alone. It’s purpose is to aid as a thinking tool. Music is not considered art, and almost no human feelings and composing goes into it. Most Whimsicans consider it to be soulless.  
Aside from mathematical designs, there is a lack of art on the planet. Writing and books are considered art, however.  
Nagatopia isn’t evil or antagonistic like Monochrome. It can be boring and dull, but not to the torturous extent of the dark planet Monochrome, which is the furthest planet from the sun in the solar system Whimsica is a part of.  
“Nagatopian” is an umbrella term for any being hailing from Nagatopia. The human-resembling species that Yuki is a part of is actually known as Xoro.  
Nagatopia will be under a different name in original (non-fandom) Whimsica stories. The alternate name will be Xoropolis. This is because the concept of Yuki Nagato, whom I based the name of the planet after, is copyrighted. Remember that!
> 
> About Xoros (Humanoid Nagatopians)-  
The species of Xoro (plural: Xoros) share no common ancestors with humans, despite resembling them almost identically. Xoros even have the same range of skin tones that humans typically have.  
Xoros are ice-blooded organisms. This is different from being cold-blooded. Ice-blooded organisms naturally produce a cool body temperature of 59 degrees Fahrenheit, and need to stay cool.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The focus is really Kyon and Yuki for now. I promise to give other characters significance too, but... Yuki is my favorite, and Kyon is the main character and I also like him a lot. So naturally most of the focus ended up being taken by them. But I’ll also like to experiment with writing the different characters too!
> 
> And yes, I rushed this one too adkdksksmw.

The next day...

“Hey, Kyon!” Kyon’s annoying, bubbly 5-year-old little sister greeted him. “Whatcha drawing?”

“Nothing really.” Kyon said.

“No!” His sister pouted. “Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!”

“Alright, I’ll tell you. I’m making a bookmark for my friend. I’m drawing stars and planets on it because she likes space. I’m giving it to her today.”

“A bookmark?” Kyon’s sister asked. “Does your friend like books?”

“I think ‘like’ would be a bit of an understatement.” Kyon said.

That day at rap class, the seats got re-arranged, and Kyon no longer had a seat next to Yuki. Darn! As soon as they became friends.

Kyon’s new seat was in the corner of the class, in the back of the room where spider webs were hanging about and kids wrote nonsensical things on the wall in pencil out of extreme boredom. Yuki’s new seat was in the front of the room in the opposite corner to Kyon. But Yuki was absent that day.

“She still must not be feeling well.” Kyon thought. “Maybe I’ll visit Yuki after school and give the bookmark to her then.”

After rap class was over, Kyon asked Taniguchi a question.

“Hey, Taniguchi.” Kyon said. “Do you happen to know Yuki Nagato’s address?”

“Yuki’s address?” Taniguchi looked surprised. “Well, why?”

“No reason, really.” Kyon said. “Well, there is a reason. She’s home today because she isn’t feeling good, and I have something I want to give her.”

“So you guys are friends now, huh?” Taniguchi said.

“I... I guess you could say that.” Kyon said.

Taniguchi suddenly erupted into rude obnoxious laughter.

“So what’s it like having Spooky Yuki as a friend?” He laughed. “Do you like, just sit there and watch her read all day?”

“Please be quiet!” Kyon raised his voice. “I want to know if you know her address.”

“I don’t, I don’t!” Taniguchi was still laughing. “But I think Ryouko Asakura might know.”

“Alright, thanks.” Kyon rolled his eyes and left Taniguchi, who was now rolling on the floor in his piggish laughter. It wasn’t that funny!

Kyon managed to find Ryouko in the hallway after his last class period.

“Hey, Ryouko?” Kyon asked. “Do you happen to know Yuki Nagato’s address?”

“Oh, Yuki? I sometimes go to her apartment to bring her food. She lives on room 521 at the Lilac Apartment Complex on the edge of town. Why?”

“Well, she isn’t feeling well, so I’m going to visit her.” Kyon said.

“Oh.” Ryouko’s face suddenly fell. “She’s sick? When did that happen?”

“At your party.” Kyon said. “So I took her to the nurse’s office.”

“Oh, oh...” Ryouko said. “Oh no. That’s terrible! I was looking all over for her at one point. I guess then, she had already left.”

“Well, do you want to come with me to visit her?” Kyon asked.

“Oh, I wish I could. I really wish I could...” Ryouko sighed. “But I have to go to the train station right now to visit my grandparents. I promised I’d visit them. But... tell Yuki I’m thinking about her, all right?” Ryouko asked.

“Will do.” Kyon said.

Ryouko walked away feeling guilty and dejected. Every chance she had to get closer to Yuki, something had to come up. At the very least, Yuki seemed to be on good terms with Kyon. Maybe with Kyon, Yuki wouldn’t be as lonely, Ryouko thought.

———

The doorbell in Yuki’s apartment rang.

“It’s Kyon.” Kyon said so Yuki would hear him. “I’m here to visit.”

The recovering girl put on her slippers and shuffled up to the door, opening it for her guest.

“Come in.” She said.

As soon as Kyon walked into Yuki’s apartment, he felt a cold aura. Not only was Yuki’s apartment chilled (which she needed to stay cool), it was dreary and quite empty. It suddenly occurred to Kyon that Yuki lived alone. Were her parents all the way back on Nagatopia? Did Yuki come to Whimsica all by herself?

The two walked to a low table in the middle of Yuki’s sparsely-furnished living room and sat down.

“How are you feeling?” Kyon asked Yuki.

“Moderately better.” Yuki answered.

“That’s great.” Kyon said. “By the way, I made something for you.”

Kyon pulled the bookmark out of his pocket and handed it to Yuki.

“It’s a bookmark, since I know you like to read.” Kyon said. “And I drew planets and stars on them since you like space a lot.”

“Thank you.” Yuki said, gazing at the bookmark. “The gift is very thoughtful.”

“So, Yuki...” Kyon asked his friend. “Are your parents back on Nagatopia?”

Yuki nodded.

“Indeed.” She said. “I came to Whimsica alone, in a spacecraft I built myself. The trip took ten days.”

“Wow.” Kyon said. “You built your spacecraft yourself? Well, anyway, why did you want to come to Whimsica?”

“I had always been interested in this planet.” Yuki said. “Your planet, Whimsica, had been sending signals to outer space in the form of messages and scripts. On Nagatopia, we were able to see the messages Whimsica sent to space. By analyzing the samples of your language your planet had sent us, residents of Nagatopia figured out how to speak English, among a few other Whimsican languages. I had been taught to read and write English by my parents at a young age.”

“That’s amazing!” Kyon jolted up. “Your planet must be really advanced, huh?”

Yuki nodded.

“My interest in your culture began when I read a Whimsican book that had been transmitted to us through space.” Yuki continued. “Whimsican books are very different from Nagatopian books. They have such magnificent stories in them. Ever since I read and heard those stories, I wanted to live on Whimsica.”

“Oh. Wow.” Kyon said. “Well, that’s understandable. You loved Whimsican books, so you thought that they must’ve came from an interesting place, huh.”

Yuki nodded again.

“Well, that’s great that you’re fulfilling your dream.” Kyon said. “I guess it does get lonely without your parents though.”

“I am fine.” Yuki replied. “I appreciate your concern.”

Kyon wasn’t sure if Yuki really, was fine, however. He thought he saw loneliness in her eyes right then.

———

The next day at school, Yuki still hadn’t come back. Taniguchi began to bug Kyon, as usual.

“So, how’s Pukey? Wait, I mean Yuki! Haha!”

“None of your business.” Kyon said.

“Has she read any good books lately?” Taniguchi asked, mockingly.

“Yes, in fact she has.” Kyon said. “She says the books on Whimsica are great.”

“Huh?” Taniguchi looked puzzled. “On Whimsica? Is Yuki not from Whimsica?”

Kyon’s blood suddenly went cold. Crap! He accidentally hinted Taniguchi that Yuki was an alien... but... then again, Yuki didn’t tell Kyon it needed to be a secret. Maybe he could just tell him, since he’d be bugging Kyon about it if he didn’t.

Before Kyon could think critically about his decision, he spoke.

“Yuki is a Xoro.” Kyon said. “An alien species from Nagatopia. She’s ice-blooded, meaning she needs to stay cold and can’t overheat. That’s why she got sick the other day.”

But to Kyon’s dismay, Taniguchi’s grin grew on his face. Oh no. Kyon knew that this meant bad news.

“Hey everybody!” Taniguchi called out. “I have a scoop for all of you! BIG news. Yuki Nagato is actually an alien!”

“What? Really?” The other students responded.

Everyone in the class began to crowd around Taniguchi. Even the teacher looked compelled to hear this news.

This was no longer in just Kyon’s hands anymore. But maybe everyone would treat Yuki with kindness, even if they did know she was an alien. But judging from the rude laughter coming from everyone, Kyon quickly doubted that. His stomach began to sink. He had a bad feeling about this.

———

By the end of the day, the rumor had spread like wildfire throughout the entire enormous school. There wasn’t a single student, teacher, staff member, or janitor who didn’t hear the news. Yuki Nagato was an alien. An ice-blooded Xoro from a planet called Nagatopia.

“Well, I’ve got to hand it to Taniguchi, somehow he managed to ignite the entire school with his big mouth.” Kyon thought. But he couldn’t be more disdainful at what had just happened.

How was Yuki going to be treated after this?

The next day at school, Yuki was back. She had recovered almost fully and decided to attend school.

“What a time to be back...” Kyon thought.

Kyon looked around and saw that everyone was avoiding Yuki like the plague, giving her dirty looks, and laughing behind her back. But Yuki herself didn’t notice. She was too busy with her head in a book...

“Hey, Kyon.” Taniguchi went up to him. “I wouldn’t hang around Yuki anymore if I were you. You might catch freak disease.”

Taniguchi and his dumb posse of clowns began to laugh like pigs. Kyon rolled his eyes and tried to ignore him.

“Yuki is an ice monster with a cold heart.” The girl in the seat next to Kyon spoke up this time.

“What!?” Kyon responded. “She... she’s not! She’s actually a really nice girl if you give her a chance.”

Everyone began to face Kyon, laughing.

“Watch out Kyon, maybe Yuki wants to abduct you!” Another student said.

“Enough of this crap!” Kyon yelled. “You guys are acting like a bunch of clowns!”

“Oooh, don’t tell me you LIKE Yuki!” Taniguchi’s face warped into the meanest of grins. “That’s why you’re getting so angry, huh! You like her! Kyon and Yuki sitting in a tree—“

Kyon suddenly erupted out of his seat and lunged at Taniguchi, pushing him to the ground. 

“Oh geez, Kyon!” Taniguchi said. “Take a chill pill!”

“No! So what if I like her?” Kyon yelled. “She’s my friend! What about it? You guys are treating her like she’s some sort of freak!”

“All right, stop all the commotion!” The teacher came in the room and said. He forced Kyon off Taniguchi and stopped the fight.

Kyon felt humiliated, and he was still boiling inside. When nobody was looking, he turned his face over to Yuki’s desk. Her face was still in her book. Did she notice anything that happened?

But what Kyon didn’t know, was that Yuki overheard everything that happened. Everything that was said about her. Everything Kyon did to try to stop them.

Kyon was a good friend. But otherwise, life on Whimsica just wasn’t turning out the way Yuki wanted it to be. Everything was loud and chaotic. On top of that, people picked on her.

Even though Yuki didn’t show it outwardly, on the inside she was hurt.

———

The next day at rap class, Yuki wasn’t there. Kyon immediately grew worried. The bullies in the class were awfully silent that day. Kyon decided to take advantage of that and not say anything that would stir them up.

“Now, take out your Inspirational Rap books and turn to page 103.” The teacher said, as a few students groaned. Including Kyon.

Kyon reached in his desk, but instead of just his book, he felt something else. He looked down to see what it was.

Huh? It was a note.

“For Kyon.” It said. Kyon curiously turned it over, and was shocked to see what it said.

“No... no!” He thought. He immediately knew who wrote the note...

“Dear Kyon.” The note said. “Goodbye. By the time you see this note, I will be departing from Whimsica, back to my home planet. I am very grateful for the kindness you have shown me during the past few days.”

“Thank you and farewell, Yuki Nagato.”

Also in the desk, was the handkerchief Kyon lent to Yuki. Yuki had washed and returned it. It was folded up neatly.

Reluctant tears began to well up in the boy’s eyes. He tried to hide the fact that he looked shocked... No! It couldn’t be! Yuki... Yuki was a precious friend to Kyon. Yes, sure she was a little weird, they weren’t always on the same page either. (Figuratively, and literally too, because Yuki tended to read faster than Kyon.)

There was so much that Kyon didn’t know about Yuki. So much he wanted to find out...

Kyon knew Yuki was lonely. He wanted to see her smile. Kyon never even got to see Yuki smile... It just wasn’t right.

Kyon knew he had to speak out.

“Guys!”

Before he knew it, he was desperately calling to the class.

“Everyone, listen! Yuki Nagato is... She’s... going back to her home planet!”

“What!?” Came an almost unanimous cry from the class.

“That can’t be!”

“For real?”

“Kyon, let me see that note.” The teacher went up to Kyon and took the note. “Oh no... this isn’t good... We should all look for her! Maybe it isn’t too late!”

Kyon’s eyes lit up at what the teacher said. She was willing to help look for Yuki.

“I’ll help too!” Another kid in the class said.

“We should all look for Yuki!” Taniguchi said. What? Taniguchi?

“To be honest, I want to apologize to her.” Taniguchi said. “And to you too, Kyon. I said some really mean things. To tell the truth, I... I’d miss Yuki if she were gone.”

“Taniguchi...” Kyon was pleasantly surprised to hear him apologize. “Alright! Let’s go and look around town.”

As soon as Kyon and the rest of the class walked out into the hallway, a frantic Ryouko was also running through the halls.

“Kyon!” Ryouko cried out. “Yuki left me a note! She’s going back to her home planet! I’m looking for her to tell her to stay!”

“She left me a note too!” Kyon said. “Let’s all look together!”

Everyone on decided a plan to split up. The group had 32 people. They would all look around a different area in town. That way, someone was bound to find Yuki.

Kyon, meanwhile, was on edge. What if he couldn’t find Yuki on time? Then he’d never see her again...

“Where did you come from, where did you go?” Kyon whispered to himself. “Where did you come from, Yuki Nagato!”


End file.
